It's Our First Wednesday Japanese Candy Review!!!

We've decided that every Wednesday we're going to post a new Japanese candy review.  It all started with our friends at oyatsucafe.com offering to send us a bunch of great treats to review.  Then they also added that they'll give each of our readers that orders from them a discount by simply putting the word "candycritic" in the discount box when you order.  So for the next little while we'll be sampling a lot of fun Japanese candy, if you want to try some yourself, head over to oyatsucafe.com, pick some up, and get a discount while you're at it.

Click here to read our first special Wednesday Japanese Candy Review... I think we have to come up with a better name than that.

CC

Candy Art - Or Candy Architecture

 While I'm pretty sure you can't eat any part of this house, the colours of the glass are in fact made from baked sugar.

There are no dyes involved at all, it's just sugar cooked for different amounts of time, thus getting darker the longer it's cooked.

Click here to read more about this.

CC

This Week In Candy

This week we're starting a new feature on the blog.  Every Wednesday we'll be reviewing a new Asian treat graciously donated to us from our friends at oyatsucafe.com.  Some might say that our goal is to make sure we have the widest variety of treats reviewed on the site, but I'm pretty sure that the goal is to make sure I eat something really strange on a regular basis.  No matter what the reasons, not only will we have a new Asian review every week, but you (our loyal readers) are entitled to a discount from oyatsucafe.com and all you have to do is enter "candy critic" in the discount section of their online form.

Last week we also received a whole bunch of South African treats from our friend CJ, and we're going through it and setting up some awesome reviews.  I'm thinking a South African review-a-thon might be in our near future.

Finally, I've been thinking about classic treats that I have not yet reviewed.  I realized recently that I never reviewed original Mike and Ikes (as you can see from this weeks review that has changed), but if you see a classic treat that I've missed, make sure to let me know about it.

CC

Stuff I Want To Try

Pepsi-flavored Cheetos - FritoLay - I'm not 100% sure that these are real, but since it's Japan, I'm no 100% sure that it's not real either. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

CC

What?!!! I Haven't Reviewed These Before?

There are a great deal of "famous" and well known candy in the world.  It's a group of candies that most people might call classic candies.  These are the staples of any candy fans collection of treats they've sampled.  In many ways these are the treats that I try to base my reviews upon.  The problem is, sometimes I don't actually get around to reviewing them.  Sometimes they slip through the cracks, I've tasted them, I've just never put pen to paper and actually written a review.  Mike and Ike's "Original Fruits" is just such a candy, but no more is it un-reviewed.

Click here to read this classic review.

CC

Candy News

Hershey's is opening a Chocolate World in Las Vegas, I hear Tom Jones has a sweet tooth.

For all of you Americans waiting for the Twinkie to come back, it's happening soon.

"World cocoa market will be in deficit for next two years"... This is not good news.

The worst part of having a cocoa deficit?  As it turns out cocoa might fight off diabetes.

This list of candies that are supposedly no longer available isn't completely accurate, but the parts that are make me a little sad.

Did you know that Tootsie just revamped their recipe page?  Did you know that you could cook with Tootsie Rolls?

Fruit infused cocoa beans, chocolate and fruit go together, so this seems like it might work.

Are hard candies coming back into style, or did they ever leave?

If a jelly donut is considered a wild choice for you, these might be a little out of your league.

If you want to keep up with all of the daily candy news that we come across as it happens, follow us on Twitter.

CC

Friday Candy Video

I've been thinking a lot about Mickey Mouse ice cream sandwiches lately.  I'm not too sure if watching some lady eat one is really helping, in fact, I think it's making me a little jealous.

CC

Stuff I Want To Try

Yankees-Licensed Ring Pops - Bazooka -I'm not a huge Yankees fan, so I may wait till they make a Toronto Blue Jays Ring Pop. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

CC

Classic/Creative Candy Advertising

I love a good pun, I also don't mind strawberry ice cream.  On another note, I was watching an episode of Mad Men (season 3) and one of the characters was putting salt on his ice cream.  Does anybody do this?  Why would you do it?

I found this ad here.

CC

New Episode of Junk Fud Podcast

In this episode of Junk Fud, our friend Mark talks with us about American Junk Food.  We talk not just about treats that are made in the USA, but also treats that American's like from abroad.  The United States has some pretty fascinating treats and Junk Food of their own, but they also import a whole lot.

Right click here to download the podcast.

CC

Stuff I Want To Try

Ruffles 'Crispy Fries' - Ruffles - I'm not sure how revolutionary these are, but they might be tasty. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

CC

This Week In Candy

I'm having an interesting dilemma right now.  It's about a review that I'm thinking of writing for Sour Patch Kids.  Sour Patch Kids is a classic candy that just hasn't made it onto my radar yet for review.  That was until my friend Catherine handed me a bag of them and told me that these Sour Patch Kids were something special.  As it turns out she handed me a bag of Sour Patch Kids from Ireland, and these Sour Patch Kids have 5 different flavours instead of just 4.  So, do you think I should review these Irish Sour Patch Kids?  What do I do when I go back home to the regular Sour Patch Kids, do I review them again?  Just so you know, the extra purple ones are really tasty.

You may have noticed the lack of "Old Candy Critic Articles" being posted on Wednesdays.  Well I've decided to stop posting these old articles because I've pretty much run out.  There are a few that I didn't re-post, but I don't think they're really relevant to the candy world anymore.  I may change my mind, but for now they'll stay in my archives.  I'm looking to fill this gap with something new, I'm just not sure what that new thing will be yet.  I'd like to continue to collect photos of people with candy, or maybe turn the Junk Fud podcast into a weekly thing.

Speaking of the Junk Fud podcast, this week you should keep your ears open this week for a new episode featuring our good friend Mark.  We talk about classic American candy and junk food, as well as look at what international candies Americans are eating.  I've also created a web page where you can find links to all of our past episodes, so if you've missed one you can always find it here.

CC

A Salty Lollipop?

This weeks review was pretty special, it was something  I'd never tried before, it was kind of pretty, and best of all it was the creation of a small time candy maker.  These elements are often the case when it comes to candy, since small candy makers are willing to take risks in an attempt to make something unique.  The folks at A Secret Forest Patisserie made a lollipop that was original, but not crazy.  It just worked.  I could go on, but that's really what the review is all about.

Click here to read this lollipop review.

CC